Snap stock gains after new features, but can they make money?

Snap Inc. shares rose Friday after the company announced new features for the Snapchat app at a Thursday partner event, but Morgan Stanley isn’t sure the latest additions will make any more money for the beleaguered social-media company.

Executives at Snap SNAP, +4.96% showed off enhancements to the company’s augmented-reality, gaming, and content categories during Thursday’s event, as Snap looks to drive engagement on its platform and compete with Facebook Inc.’s FB, -0.17% Instagram, which has copied some of its most popular features. Snap has struggled to grow users on Snapchat since its 2017 IPO, posting flat sequential growth in the December quarter after two periods of declines.

The company is rolling out the ability for users to play a variety of games with their friends from within Snapchat’s chat platform, making use of the company’s 2016 acquisition of Bitmoji, which allows for the creation of animated avatars. Snap also teased new original shows and integrations with third-party apps.

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